Stone Deep
by Soul of Ashes
Summary: ZukoToph. Sometimes we fear what we can't see. Oh Goddess, another chapter?
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Stone Deep**  
Author**: Me**  
Pairing**: ZukoxToph**  
Setting**: In no particular episode at all, just a random situation in a random place at some random time.**  
Rating**: R**  
Warnings**: Torture, and some kissing, fun stuff. I do hate putting up warnings. -- This is really supposed to be psychological but I suck.

**Summary**: Sometimes we fear what we can't see.  
Additionally, can anyone give me some critique as to how this relationship can possibly continue? Withoutbecoming overtly wrong in all sense of the word... and if I've already crossed that line, wtf am I doing here? I just decided to post this for the sake of seeing everyone's response to this pairing.

NO MORE BAD ZUTARA FICS PLZ. (End of PSA)

* * *

She is a short and wiry little girl. Her hair is dark, short in an out-dated page boy cut that had revealed to him that her age couldn't be any older than twelve, barely marrying age. She barely stands up to his collar bone. The little Earthbender's legs had been sturdy, solid on the ground, rooting here there on the sand dunes. Her eyes, crystal and fierce, hawk-like as they pierced the empty space in Zuko's general direction as the wind and sand, heedless and hungry, savagely jerked at their clothes, making a high-pitched hyena laugh through the holes of the wind mill walls.

She's not standing now. She was dusted in a layer of ground meal, after Zuko had unleashed nearly half a ton of the stuff on her, muffling her senses. It had been challenging to defeat her without catching the flammable stuff on fire, but in the end it was a matter of simply stepping onto the mountain of meal, silently stepping behind her before clamping his hand around her mouth, soaked in fluid that made one sleepy.

She isn't standing because she's still unconscious and her legs are bound with chicken wire, as were her hands and arms. Too tightly, he thinks. Her fingertips are turning blue.

He is just about to crouch next to her and loosen them just a little when her eyes flew open and she spat, "You breathe like a pig with the flu! Let me go!"

She bucks; she writhes; Zuko can see her fingers clench and unclench, twitching to try and Earthbend some miracle her way. But they were in a water mill, powering the great wooden machinery that ground up corn into meal. The soft kathud-thud, kathud-thud of the cogs turning, ancient things older than the house up the hill near where it was built. The scuffing of meal dust when she struggles, attempting her very best to loose herself from being tied unceremoniously to the wood pole that supported the main beam.

Zuko feels pretty good about this. Just the wood and the water for a good twenty feet before the shore. Water nearly fifty feet deep. This is a bizarre water mill.

She can't do a damn thing.

He can taste her frustration.

* * *

"You can stop making yourself tired now. I need you to stay nice and awake for me so you can tell me where your bald-headed friend is."

"I don't know any dumb bald people!" Toph hates how her voice quavers. The echoes come back to her.

Blackness. She reaches out with her hearing, her Earthbending, dipping her awareness into everything around her. She can feel his heart beating through the wood in the floor and his footsteps no matter how lightly he tried to step. There is a large object to her left, but the resounding thuds throughout the water mill and the chuckle of water over the stones confuse her. She can percieve only the vaguest of impressions.

"The Avatar." Voice like burned charcoal. It has the undercurrents of one who had breathed in smoke regularly all his life and enjoyed it.

Toph steels herself, lowering her head and feeling her hair tickle her brow. "Not a clue." That's right, you son of a bitch. Lean a little closer.

"I can give you one and I can assure you--" His weight shifts. Moves closer. "--you won't like it." Heat next to her ear. Light, calm breathing. Smelled like charred wood.

The Earthbender lunges, teeth snapping closed on empty air as he yanks his ear out of reach - just in time. With a huff of indignation, he slaps her in the face like lightning. "Bitch."

"Whoreson!" The retaliation is fast. Toph is proud of herself for the comeback. "I won't tell you nothin'!"

"Then you'll die here. I'll burn this whole mill to cinders and watch your ashes wash away down the river. Would you like that?" The calm certainty in his voice, the conviction in it, startles her. For a minute she believes he would do it. He doesn't exactly sound much like a guy who would kill little girls.

But is he that heartless? She doesn't know. She never asked her friends what kind of guy he was. Only that he was some scar-faced, scary guy.

"I'm not telling!" she repeats out loud, turning her head this way and that. She pinpoints him again. He's somewhere behind her, rummaging around, taking his sweet time. She clenches her teeth and finds comfort in the grinding noise she makes in her ears. She can't feel her hands anymore.

He comes back. Without a doubt she realizes there's fire at her back. She stiffens all over and feels panic creep up her throat like vomit. "What are you doing? Hey, knock it off!"

The heat comes closer to her ear. His fingertip barely brushes it, but it's enough. It's scalding and hot and a bright explosion of pain fires in her brain. She jerks her head away and screams, struggling until she notices wetness around her hands. Bleeding? Coppery smell. Burning hair. She shrieks again in outrage until he hits her again.

"Tell me where he's gone. What is he planning now?" Patient and cobra-like whispers. She wishes she couldn't imagine his tongue licking his lips as he sizes her up for more.

"Dunno," she said leadenly. Flinches when she feels the heat again. "I swear to the stars I don't know--"

She screams again, kicking her tied up legs uselessly. "St... Stop it!"

"Tell me."

"Just _stop_ it, damn you!"

"Tell me and I'll stop!"

"GO TO HELL!"

Zuko touches her other ear, and the smell of burning hair fills her nostrils. She flinches away until his other hand grabs her by the jaw and holds her still. She can't see him, but she can feel the heat from his body spreading over her. There's a twinge in her stomach, and the terror of that horrible thing that happens to slutty women on dirty streets fills her head with contorted, terrifying images. But she will not beg, and she'll never beg, because Toph was made of tougher stuff than most of those slutty girls on dirty streets. She was an Earthbender, and the Avatar himself had asked her to teach him what she knew.

She steels herself again. Her heart hammers, but she tries to stare with her crystal, sightless eyes into his face. He's not close enough for her to bite again. His hands are rough and probably dirty. She wrinkles her nose, and tastes his scent on her tongue when she tries to breathe through her nose.

* * *

Zuko watches her. Her face is making all kinds of expressions, ones that he's sure she's not doing on purpose. Eventually she levels her stare and tries to look as if she's looking right at him. Her lower lip quivers, and she parts her lip to take a breath. Her courage and stubborn stare, despite being blind, confuses him. She's blind but painfully independant. And he is holding back. Why?

Is it because he pities her?

He's not going to get anywhere by torturing her as if she were a blind person. He smiles cruelly, fixing his golden eyes on her mouth.

Impulsively, and rather surprising himself, he leans close and clamps his mouth over hers roughly. Her mouth is small and hard, full of teeth, and a surprised squeal fills his head as she suddenly wriggles, spasming violently as his tongue pushes into her mouth. Salt. Sweat, tears. Sand. Her voice dies and she melts, only the barest quiver vibrating through her body to her mouth and her tongue.

She doesn't bite.

------

She doesn't bite because her body has gone totally and suddenly numb. It's not fear, or anger. It draws her out of the hollow, deep well of panic and frees her from the shackles of confusion. His tongue feels smooth and clean, as if he still gets up every morning to brush his teeth. She can't see him, but she can taste him and feel him close to her. Her heart hammers again. The slap of water against the underside of the water mill, the kathud-thud of the cogs turning, fills her ears until she can't hear anything else, or what he says next against her mouth.

She's confused. Toph tries to ask him to repeat what he says, but her tongue feels leaden, as if his saliva had put her nerves to sleep. He shoves a cloth over her mouth again and she knows nothing else.

* * *

Zuko cuts her bindings quickly. Her hands are pale, wrists bleeding. He rubs them and her forearms to get the blood flowing back into them again while he presses bandages around her wrists. Her hair fell over her eyes, and her mouth was still open a little, her lips puffy.

He tucks her into a blanket in a boat on the river and considers what to do with her now that he obviously hasn't tortured her enough to get anything out of her. He combs a hand through his hair and stares at her, tongue working in his mouth, feeling heat spread throughout his face.

Kissing her had put some kind of fog over her. The burn on the back of her ear is still fresh and painfully red. But he lets that one alone to remind her of who she belongs to.

It's going to be an interesting afternoon.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Because so many people wanted me to continue this and because of the movie coming out, I'm going to put up a little continuation. Hey, I might even have a little plot in mind. Also, I don't know what characters can swim and who cannot, so don't flame me. T_T

* * *

Zuko watches her sleep. At night, floating in the peacefulness of water, beyond the prying eyes of his inferiors, he could stare at her all he wants. She is a short and wiry little girl, but there is definitely a royal grace to her fine, adolescent features. She looks like she might make a decent queen, if she had the dedication to her own lineage, rather than taking off on this foolish errand to serve the Avatar.

Her dark, cropped hair has fallen into some disarray; it looks cuter on her, he thinks. Her skin is pale and soft to the touch. Her cuts still bleed, but with a little field doctoring, he helps staunch the flow of blood from the restraining cords which cut too deeply. His eyes take in the soft round features, the hard calloused on all her knuckles, her palms, her fingertips. For all her fine features, her body seems as rock solid and stocky as a boulder. There is nothing curvy or girly about her. He has no idea how old she even is. But, as a noble, he can recognize another purple-blooded person. Her hair is too fine, her skin too unmarred otherwise.

It's been several hours since they started their journey in the boat. He takes the middle road, where the water is deepest. He has a bag of jerkied meat and chews a piece contemplatively. Eventually there would have to be consequences for his actions - particularly when he runs out of waterways to navigate on his own. In the distance, he can very well almost see the glowing lanterns of his ship. There he will bring her aboard, anchored just beyond the delta of this little river where he could tie her up in the prisoner's bay and question her further. But until then, the river floats them along at a steady pace. He isn't even angry at it being so slow. Overhead, the stars remain unextinguished in the night sky, blazing and filling Zuko with a giddy excited well-being. The eternal, steady glitter of them comforts in some way.

"Guess it's just you and me for a little while longer," he says to her sleeping form. He slowly slides her short, cropped hair from her eyes.

In a split-second, his fingers smarted from the bite of her teeth.

"Let me go," she snarls, wriggling.

"If you want something to bite, I'd suggest having something to eat," Zuko replies with an acid sneer.

She coils underneath his gaze like a particularly aggressive silver cobrat. At any time, she could still strike. Her hands are unbound, and she very well could land a solid blow that might leave him stunned enough for her to jump for the water.

However, hearing the same smack of the water against the wooden boughs and she remains frozen. "Sure. I could go for some chow," she accedes almost under her breath.

The firebender pulls a piece of jerkied meat from the bag, tearing off a piece. He's ashamed to admit that he's afraid she'll bite his fingers off. But as soon as the seasoned meat's scent touches her nose, her stomach seems to erupt with a snarl of a cat. She bites down and nibbles at it.

Kind of cute, Zuko thinks once again. His belly flutters. Then she belches and huffs. "Is that it?"

Zuko fetches another piece. She munches, huffing and puffing noisily as if she had been starving. Ironically, she doesn't make any comparison about the faire on this unlikely little loveboat. She lays back again, actually kicking back and crossing her bare ankles and tucking her hands behind her head to point her face at the sky.

"So, I guess you're pretty comfortable, huh?" the Earthbender says soothingly. "Bet you think you've got me all figured out. 'Poor blind little earthbender girl, stuck in a boat. Oh, what's a girl to do?'"

Zuko stares at her with his arms crossed, heat dancing beneath his breastbone like dragonfire. "I don't care what you think you know," Zuko whispers quietly so his voice doesn't carry across the water. "I've only just gotten started with you."

Toph shivers once, but conceals her expression. The first hint of movement would give her away, and Zuko, though a little tired, was still aware of her trembling in the presence of so much water. Was she wondering when Aang was going to find her? Was she wondering if they would able to see this small dark boat floating silently with the current? Or is she remembering the delicate stings of the touch of fire on her skin?

His fingers spasmically clench, as if he was almost ashamed of the person that had nearly burned her. He promised himself he would never become like his father, but somehow he wants to dominate her, but it was completely beyond his scope what she was feeling. Her face, although it was oddly animated now and then, had the most natural emotions written all over it. She's hiding them now, though. As if she wants to leave him wondering; it was the only game she could play without losing.

Her face points to the stars, and the Fire Prince merely pouts, glad she could not see.

* * *

This boat is older, Zuko and his crew having gone through many replacements since the chase for the Avatar began, replacing the old model which ran on coal. It runs on simple mechanics; a mongoose dragon in the engine room turns a simple engine that was similar to older-style paddle-boats, using kinetic energy to fuel the boat's motion. It is anchored, hidden, closer to shore than Zuko would have liked. Before they come within sight of the glowing little circle windows, he grabs the Earthbender girl and quickly shackles her again with more tightening bonds. Her frosty gaze stares straight ahead, though he can feel her taut, hard muscles tighten with the effort to break the hold.

"Sorry, princess," he whispers in her ear as he secured her wrists. They would be tender and sore for awhile. It can't be helped; her fighting spirit would give him trouble as they board the bigger ship. But, surprisingly, she remains utterly docile as he carries her over his shoulder, climbing the ladder and leaving the little wooden vessel behind and bidding it an overly fond silent farewell.

Fire Nation troops, under the cover of dark, lit by the underglow of Firebending, circle around, heavy solid iron shackles sliding along the boat for her ankles and wrists. Burnished by the light, the irons became wristlets of gold. Bit gaudy, he thinks.

* * *

She feels them approaching; the collective heat of their bending and the sound of iron making her skin grow hot. But she forces herself to stay calm, her muscles not quite relaxed but firm. She manages to swallow the smile and hysterical laughter crawling up from her belly. She can almost smell the tangy, coppery odor of the metal. They cut the ropes first, holding her arms at bay; the irons come closer, chains dragging.

Zuko's left foot shoots forward to loop her ankle, sensing a very small movement. A tension in her shoulders that spread down her back; he would never have seen it if he had not been so completely absorbed in _her-_

The chains suddenly snap up from the deck with a sudden ringing of links. The shackles become handles; Fire Nation soldiers jump back with cries as the shackles transform into a whirligig of twirling pain. It's an awkward movement; she's used to pummeling things with her fists. However, with these shackles, the accuracy importance shrinks to almost nothing.

The metal links make a heavy, deadly whooshing noise as they whip about noisily, trying to catch anyone in their heavy, bone-breaking coils. Unbelievable how such a small body could heft such things! She can't see Zuko but she can almost feel him, and hears the dull thud, feeling the resonation of bodies being struck as soldiers go flying left and right with broken bones and bruised pride.

"Get away from me, you animals!" she shrieks, turning the momentum of the whizzing chains into motion. She makes her way backwards, then slows the chains down and wraps them around her forearms like heavy metal bars. "Go ahead. Get closer if you dare!" She doesn't know why; she doesn't know what she plans on doing on a boat in the middle of a body of water. But she grasps the concept that if she fights, she's buying time. For someone - anyone - to come and save her.

* * *

Zuko ducks as one of them barely takes off what was left of his topknot. Having spent a reasonable amount of time with her, he's beginning to understand why he left her unconscious. When she stands before his men all the same with fire in her stance, her entire demeanor blazing like dragon's breath, tension rippling over her, reaching for her talent... but there was no earth near here. Not even coal to dredge up from the depths of the boat.

But using her bare feet to feel the earth was the only way to accurately make judgments about the fight ahead. And without completely solid ground, he realizes she's mostly (maybe completely) at a disadvantage.

"Easy, men," he says calmly. "She's just like a blind rat in the bottom of a well." He steps forward quietly. "Come on, now, little girl. You don't want to get hurt, do you?"

Those who were smart enough to get out of the way of the chain flails now begin to circle in again, silently. Zuko motions them to quiet their Firebending. Then he draws closer to the Earthbender, whose hair hung down over her sweaty forehead. It was suddenly becoming a very humid night, even on this little pathetic ship.

"I think we should try again," Zuko says calmly. "This time, I'm willing to offer you some of the comforts of home. Maybe a bowl of dust to keep you company?"

Toph hisses; he's pleased he can still get under her skin. He draws nearer, within ten feet or so. Fire drips from his fingertips. He draws back his hand, and fire blossoms from his palm like an orange flower and roars toward her. The sound of it lapping up oxygen in the air must have tipped her off.

And tipped her over backwards and into the water.


End file.
